Danton Eeprom - Yes Is More

Danton Eeprom - Yes Is More
For many, Danton Eeprom is the singer responsible for the vaguely menacing vocal incantations on Radio Slave's towering 2008 single "Grindhouse." Under that pseudonym, though, Frenchman-turned-Londoner Julian Brambilla has maintained a fully developed career of his own since 2005, from Italo-tinged electro for labels such as Lektroluv or Hot Banana to more refined tech-house for the likes of Freak n' Chic and his own Fondation Records.

That said, Yes Is More, the first album Eeprom has released on Agoria's InFiné label, follows the somber aesthetics that the producer has shaped on his One Thing Leads to Another single and through the more abstract work he records with Ivan Smagghe under the La Horse moniker. If his release schedule, varied style and overall stubbornness makes Eeprom more akin to other French luminaries such as Krikor or Georges Issakidis, you'd be more accurate to consider him the male version of Chloé, whose own The Waiting Room long player is the sonic mirror to Yes Is More in terms of sheer diversity and artistry.

Chloé herself shows up on "The Feminine Man" with the kind of tenebrous gender-bending tale only she could help voice. Also French is first single "Give Me Plain": With its accordion and shaky drums, the track threatens to emulate a Nôze-like, booze-induced delirium but quickly turns to an alarmingly synthetic melody only to have—a few seconds later—a horn-filled chorus and uplifting, almost gospel backing vocals take centerstage. It's vertiginous and daring, but prismatic at the same time: Eeprom is clearly not afraid to take his dancing shoes to uncharted pop territories. In that same vein, "Desire No More" is the kind of bass-heavy, murky synth-pop The XX crafted on their debut full-length, and it fits Eeprom's whispered baritone like a glove.

Those looking for more restrained tech house offerings should turn to "Stilettos Rising," 2007 InFiné single "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater" and "Unmistakably You": These tracks all have the same Eeprom mark that made the Radio Slave collaboration so compelling.

Yes Is More isn't faultless, but it succeeds at turning these minor flaws into a compelling listen. A tad too long, "Tight" is both slightly irritating and hypnotizing in its contrapuntal use of repetitive ticks and monosyllabic female moans. Even more intriguing is electronic ballad "Vivid Love," as it comes across as '80s French crooner Herbert Léonard produced by the Kill the DJ posse, which mystifies and fascinates in equal measures.

On the whole, though, there is plenty of music to get lost into on here, as the chancy cover of the Sister Sledge funk classic suggests. Recorded with the help of Au Revoir Simone's Erika Forster (whose cooing about dedicating her life to music is just detached enough to come across as semi-ironic but heartfelt enough to be convincing), the song showcases Eeprom as a passionate mélomane and a cool-as-fuck dandy. Yes Is More might sound, as a title, superfluous and tautological, but as an overall musical statement, it is superlative and visionary in the most affirmative of ways.

More on Danton Eeprom

Danton is a tireless innovator, comfortable only when out of his comfort zone. With his second album 'All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go' released earlier this year on Infiné and his own Fondation Records up and running, now is as vibrant a time for Danton as ever before. As he explains, “To me it's always been a generous, smiling world, blessed with an all-year tropical climate, a world where everyone is welcome to stay for however long they like. It's not some fairy-tale silly place, it's somewhere where emotion, beauty and freedom have free reign and fill your soul. Wherever you look there's always a sunrise or a sunset to dance to.”
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